Tuesday, August 28, 2012

My latest novel, The Fallen One, is on the cusp of being available throughout the free world (or at least as far as Amazon’s fingers extend into world markets). As any author knows, it’s an exciting time to be sure, but it also has its challenges.

First of all, I’m self-employed, which means that in many ways my time is not really my own. I don’t have to ask anyone for time off, but when customers come calling, I’d better be ready to answer them promptly. In the graphic design business, timelines are generally incredibly short. Everyone seems to want their job done now, and I turn them down at my peril. (Musically, I’m not all that active at the moment, so the chances of getting a call for a gig is minimal.) So for the months of September and October, I’m going to have to be juggling work and book promotion. Even though I believe I can handle it, the thought of working through the night to complete something is pretty insomnia-causing. Not a good thing when I need to have my brain in good working order.

Second, I have to handle pretty well all of the promotional detail myself. Some of this I bring on my myself, since I prefer to design my own promotion pieces. But it also means that I have to arrange most appearances, usually bookstore signings – since I can do those on weekends – as well as searching out media coverage (I’ve hopefully lined up an interview for sometime in September with one of the major CBC radio broadcasts) and other promo opportunities.

Invariably, when one has so many balls in the air, things can hit the ground. At 3:30 last Wednesday morning, I realized I hadn’t yet done anything concrete for the book’s launch. That oversight brought me up short, I can tell you. Not being able to sleep, I went downstairs to my studio to begin pouring over notes and emails to see how far I’d taken my ideas for the launch. It turned out to be not very far.

The Great Hall: a perfect room for a book launch – or a murder!

When it got to a decent hour, I hit the phone. An operatic colleague of my wife had indicated willingness to help and came to my rescue, offering to organize something at her club, Toronto’s famed Arts and Letters Club. I really like to celebrate the “birth” of a book, and I don’t think most book gatherings at bars and bookstores generally come off as much more than pretty lame events. (Certainly it hasn’t been too successful when I’ve tried it.) Some people come, a speech is made, maybe the author reads, wine and cheese is consumed, some books are sold, and the whole thing ends in less than an hour. Dammit! I’ve worked many months on this silly book and people at the publisher have sweated bullets to bring it all to fruition. We deserve a real celebration!

The amount of work is daunting, since we’re going to have singing and other entertainment. Rehearsal, or at least some sort of run-through will be needed for the singers, the club’s piano needs to be rented. Books have to be brought in, food ordered and the bar organized. That’s just for one event and all of this on the back of a very full-time job.

But I’m not complaining. It’s a fact of life to us mere mortal authors. In the end, it will all have been worth it, not just for any books sold, but just as a celebration of the culmination
of a long journey through the publishing pipeline. The day after the launch, I’m sure I’ll feel that all the work was worthwhile.

And by the way, anyone reading this post is invited to the launch. Here are the details:

Date: Wednesday, September 19thTime: 7:30 p.m.Place: The Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto, ON
No need to RSVP. Just show up and be very welcomed. Join us, please!

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*When it came to titling this post, I realized I wasn’t really clear on exactly what girding one’s loins actually meant historically. God bless the Internet, because it’s so easy to indulge ourselves when we want instant info. Want to know to what this term refers? Just click HERE and be enlightened!

Rick Blechta writes on Tuesdays

Barbara Fradkin writes on alternate Wednesdays

Sybil Johnson writes on Alternate Wednesdays

John Corrigan writes on alternate Thursdays

Donis Casey writes on alternate Thursdays

Charlotte Hinger writes on alternate Fridays

Frankie Bailey writes on Alternate Fridays

Vicki Delany writes on the second weekend of every month

Mario Acevedo writes on the 4th Saturday of each month

Aline Templeton

Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh in a house with a balcony overlooking the beautiful city skyline. Her series featuring DI Marjory Fleming is set in beautiful Galloway, in South-west Scotland. alinetempleton.co.uk

Marianne Wheelaghan

Marianne is from Edinburgh. She left home at seventeen. After a heap of travelling, which included living in Kiribati, the third most remote country in the world, she ended back in Edinburgh where she still lives very happily. Her crime mysteries feature DS Louisa Townsend, The Scottish Lady Detective, and are mostly set in the Pacific. Read more about Marianne and her books on her blog: www.mariannewheelaghan.co.uk and at @MWheelaghan

Rick Blechta

Rick has two passions in life, mysteries and music, and his thrillers contain liberal doses of both. He has two upcoming releases, Roses for a Diva, his sequel to The Fallen One, for Dundurn Press, and for Orca’s Rapid Reads series, The Boom Room, a second book featuring detectives Pratt & Ellis. You can learn more about what he’s up to at www.rickblechta.com. From the musical side, Rick leads a classic soul band in Toronto. Check out SOULidifiedband.com. And lastly, being a former line cook with an interest in all things culinary, he has a blog dedicated to food: A Man for All Seasonings.

Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. Her dark short stories haunt the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, but she is best known for her award-winning series featuring the quixotic, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, published by Dundurn Press. The ninth book, The Whisper of Legends, was published in April 2013. Visit Barbara at barbarafradkin.com.

Sybil Johnson

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family. Find her at www.authorsybiljohnson.com.

John R Corrigan

John R. Corrigan is D.A. Keeley, author of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Peyton Cote series, which is set along the Maine-Canada border. Bitter Crossing (summer 2014) will be the first of at least three novels in the series. Born in Augusta, Maine, he lives with his wife and three daughters at Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts, where he is English department chair, a teacher, a hockey coach, and may very well be the only mystery writer in North America who also serves as a dorm parent to 50 teenage girls. A Mainer through and through, he tries to get to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as often as possible. You can see what he's up to by visiting www.amazon.com/author/DAKeeley or dakeeleyauthor.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@DAKeeleyAuthor).

Donis Casey

Donis is the author of six Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Her award-winning series, featuring the sleuthing mother of ten children, is set in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer. The latest Alafair Tucker novel, The Wrong Hill to Die On (Poisoned Pen Press, 2012), is available in paper or electronic format wherever books are sold. Readers can enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site at www.doniscasey.com.

Frankie Bailey

Frankie Y. Bailey is a criminal justice professor who focuses on crime, history, and American culture. Her current project is a book about dress, appearance, and criminal justice. Her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart is set mainly in the South. Her near-future police procedural series featuring Detective Hannah McCabe is set in Albany, New York. Visit Frankie at frankieybailey.com.

Charlotte Hinger

Charlotte Hinger is a novelist and Western Kansas historian. Convinced that mystery writing and historical investigation go hand in hand, she now applies her MA in history to academic articles and her depraved imagination to the Lottie Albright series for Poisoned Pen Press. charlottehinger.com

Vicki Delany/Eva Gates

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of more than 25 books, including the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas cozy series, the Constable Molly Smith books, standalone novels of suspense, the Klondike Gold Rush series, and novellas for adult literacy. As Eva Gates, she is the author of the national bestselling Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin. Find Vicki at www.vickidelany.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor/

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez detective-vampire series. His short fiction is included in the anthologies, You Don’t Have A Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens and Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in Modern Drunkard Magazine. Mario lives with a dog in Denver, CO. His website is marioacevedo.com.